"Do you know what the Islamic State (ISIS) will do with you?" members of the terrorist group's propaganda wing ask their captive, who appears to be wearing an orange jumpsuit. "Yes. They will kill me," the hostage replies.

"As we approach the end of our first year in prison, I cannot help but feel proud and strengthened by all that has been achieved so far," said journalist Peter Greste in a letter from a Cairo jail cell.

The United Kingdom will deploy hundreds of troops to Iraq in the coming year to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces -- the country's latest contribution to the fight against ISIS -- British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told The Telegraph newspaper.

Kobani feels haunted by those who are still alive in it, trapped in limbo. It is a place so inhumane that the noise of coalition warplanes above is of strange comfort to those there. The destruction so near complete, the fight is more now for victory alone, not for its spoils.

The fortunes of potential U.S. allies among Syrian rebel groups are ebbing fast as hardline Salafist groups and especially al Qaeda's affiliate go on the offensive. The past month has dealt further reverses to already-beleaguered moderate groups, whose presence in the critical northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo has further eroded.